GB = BP?

Looking at the title of this post, you may think that it is about the impact of the oil spill on BP, the image of the UK and the environment. But rather than the global environment, this entry is about a much smaller one – about the micro-cosmos that is my life.

In the past months some things have happened that made me reflect on who I am, re-evaluate what I believe in and re-think what really matters to me.

And I came to the conclusion that GB = BP.
That being a (hopefully) Good Blogger might make me a Bad Person.

A Blog tells anecdotes and stories, shares photos and emotions. It’s a diary to the world, a snapshot of life. But it’s also a way to raise potentially controversial issues, to look at ordinary things from a different perspective, to express an opinion and to reflect on ongoing events.

At school I was told that a good story needs to engage the reader, capture her attention and make her think about the topic. Simply painting a picture and sharing the details of a story is not going to achieve this. Just like a good dinner does not only depend on good food and wine, but also needs an attentive host, pleasant music, a nice setting and merry dinner guests; a good story also needs more than facts and photos. It needs a bit of irony and controversy, some wittiness and a bit of sarcasm. And I think that over the past months this Blog has turned from just food to a nice dinner – from a simple story to an interesting piece of reading…or at least I hope so!

However, this appears to have come at a price:
As the Blog has become more opinionated, it seems that so has the Blogger.

I believe that having an opinion is a good thing – I don’t like people who are indifferent about everything; who are too shy to express their preferences over pizza toppings; or share their thoughts on books and movies. Opinions are important – they differentiate people, make them stand out and keep conversations interesting.

But while I strongly believe that having an opinion is good, having an opinion about everything is not quite so good and expressing that opinion all the time is probably quite a bad thing. And so while having an opinion about a lot of things may have been good for the Blog, it may have been less good for the Blogger.

I care for what people think; I want to know why they think that way; I want to challenge them and initiate discussions. But while I want to encourage them to think, I do not want them to feel that their opinion doesn’t matter to me; that I argue for the sake of it and that I think they are always wrong and I am always right.

I do not want GB to equal BP and so I thought about what is really important to me.
And what really matters to me are my friends.

The amazing people, who laugh and cry with me, share a dessert and discuss their problems with me. Who notice when something is wrong, who know how to brighten up a bad day and who offer me their scarf when I am cold. Who are ready to catch me when I fall, who tell me when I have turned into a BP and who are there to help me change it.

Out of all the things in my life, friendships are my most valuable possessions. They create joy, fun and new memories. Good friends challenge us and make us want to be better people.

If there is one good reason to re-think who you are and what you believe in, if there is one thing in life worth changing for - it’s friends!


PS: I know that to manipulate an equality you have to add something on one side and take something away on the other so that GB = BP. In order to keep the balance, I would like to become a Great Buddy publishing Boring Posts. However, ideally I will proof gravity and the universal laws of math’s wrong and become a GB = BP – a Great Blogger and Brilliant Pal!